How to determine the success of mobile applications? Experts share ideas to refine user experience

The majestic rise of the mobile industry has taken the world by storm over the past decade. Most companies have turned towards the ‘mobile-first’ avenue. Formulation of their peculiar digital presence is undeniable, of paramount importance to them today. Owing to the augmented consumption of mobile phones, online services and applications have radically broadened their accessibility from web applications to mobile spaces.

But, is there a benchmark to determine whether a mobile application is a success?

One school of thought says that it is the user’s onboarding metric, which leads to a mobile application’s win. But that is just one of the many factors, which get the ball rolling here. Predominantly, the glory of a mobile application springs from its user engagement and user retention. Hence, it is quite reasonable that nearly 1 in 4 people abandon mobile applications after only one use, according to TechCrunch.

However, one cannot pin their hopes on an all-encompassing solution that would assure both user attention and a maximum user retention rate. Shveta Raina, AVP Marketing and Sana Ru, Senior UI Technologist from AVIZVA shared these insights for creating a top-notch mobile application.

Deliver a quality user interface & a flawless user experience
Ensure a hassle-free onboarding experience
Incorporate Push Notifications

1. Deliver a quality user interface and a flawless user experience

A fine user interface and a seamless user experience are the primary grounds to ensure user appeal. An application’s design unquestionably conveys its first impression to the users. Once the user starts interacting with the application, the user experience index becomes a key focus. It is imperative for a well-designed mobile application to have:

An impeccable user experience meeting all user requirements
A clear and uncomplicated user interface which is not just easy to read but is operational on small portable devices too
Lightning-fast speed

Due to the massive progress in the world of application development, there has been a tremendous escalation in competition and resources. It is now possible to significantly enhance user experience with the help of several libraries and frameworks which are available today.
  
There are some salient areas of concern that are often disregarded in mobile application development. It is essential to take these into account:

   * Ensuring a finger-friendly application design. Many mobile applications make it hard for the user to click on the action icon. It is important for these applications to have an ‘attention to detail’ element that would take care of the limited space on the device. These applications can also be interlaced with an ‘animation as per touch gesture’ in order to ensure user engagement.

Improving application access (web and mobile). An accessible application is undoubtedly a problem solver and an absolute winner. While designing an application, it is necessary to stick to the set accessibility guidelines with reference to colors, text size, placement of icons, information, and so on.

      * Monitoring and reproducing user touch and activity. The first step in providing a remarkable user experience in mobile applications is to diligently examine user behaviour. Amongst the many tools available to observe the same, Google Analytics is one of the most popular ones. Besides tracking user activity across the application, it provides data that can be utilised to study user behaviour and patterns. Thus, the tool is a great aid to optimise the application.

Creating an application guide. This is all the more important for applications possessing several features and elements.

 * Prioritising speed and performance. The user experience of an application hugely relies on the speed at which it functions. Users will uninstall the application in no time if it is slow in operation. Before wrapping up the tech stack of an application, it is indispensable to focus on aspects that can impact its speed and performance.
 
2.Ensure a hassle-free onboarding experience
 
Every day, a myriad of applications makes their way into users’ mobile phones but the ones that persist have one common factor - they are all user friendly. It is certainly an unpopular notion but user engagement and retention are highly determined by user onboarding experience. As per the commonly accepted recommendation, an onboarding experience shouldn’t last longer than a minute. There can be an incredible amelioration in user engagement and retention by providing a great onboarding experience.

Accentuate the salient features using visuals. In order to acquaint the user with the essence of an application, all its prime features and elements need to be highlighted and presented in a compact manner.

      *  Present a snippet of the application. The users need to be familiarised with the application’s key features and processes using visuals and graphics,
      * A short and simple sign-up process. Going for a multi-step application onboarding form is a complete no-no. The form should be simple, straightforward and must ask for just the necessary details. If this is not the case, the user may consider uninstalling the application.
 
3. Incorporate Push Notifications
 
An immensely popular marketing tool today, push notifications are great mechanisms to send out alerts to users even when an application is not in use. They play a huge role in grabbing user attention and propelling user engagement by dropping real-time updates and notifications. What makes them even more exciting is that it is possible to customise them according to user demographics and behaviour.

Moreover, push notifications also have the ability to arouse dormant users. Fusing push notifications with deep links can prove to be exemplary as it would ensure direct one-click access to the content.

Having said that, one must not overwhelm the users with an overflow of push notifications. They must be always given a choice to pull out of these notifications. Usually, a lot of users do prefer to back off.

Hence, it is crucial to customise push notifications in accordance with the user demographics, behaviour, and needs. This would elicit a superior user experience and an augmented user engagement.

The eminence of a mobile application depends on spotting those functions and features that work best for your application. It is essential for these features to ensure enhanced user engagement. The only way to do this is to observe, test, study, and optimise.

Hence, there are three key insights that need to be followed in order to escalate user experience - providing for a clean user interface & a flawless user experience, imparting a seamless onboarding experience, and offering customised push notifications.

(Disclaimer: The views/suggestions/advices expressed here in this article is solely by investment experts. Zee Business suggests its readers to consult with their investment advisers before making any financial decision.)